The Melancholy of the Sound Ninja Four
by danzouu
Summary: Told from the perspective of Tayuya, this is her encounter of her time with the Sound Four prior to the Chunin Exams/Konoha Crush arc.


"I told you to kneel!" Another smack of a leather strap down onto the exposed back of the young girl. Another hiss from the serpentine pseudoscientist sannin as he disapprovingly glared at the girl who refused to submit to him.

The young pinkette finally broke, letting out a putrid shout of discombobulated terror, covering her head with her hands and begging incomprehensibly to not be struck again.

Orochimaru smirked a bit. They all came around eventually. "This is why I hate you female children. You're a lot harder to control," he told her matter-of-factly categorizing her entire gender based on the actions of herself as well as the girls he'd encountered before: Anko, Guren, and Karin. Ironically, two of those three had still served him into their adulthood and lasted much longer than the boys had, somehow… he hoped to make a lifelong partner out of Tayuya, as well, which was the cause for his harsh disciplinary actions.

"But you're finally learning what it means to be here. I asked you to consider it a privilege. Your dear friends Sakon and Ukon seem to be taking nicely to this piece of advice… and now you will too. Now then," he continued, walking forward so as to step on the exposed skin of her weak hand, earning another soft shriek from her. "All I asked was for you to tell me your name. I'm Orochimaru. Who are you?" Of course he knew, but this was something Kabuto suggested he do with all new arrivals in order to alleviate most fears and make them feel slightly more at home in the hideout.

"Ta...y..yuya…" she sputtered, never having acted so terrified in her life. It truly shamed the girl who had previously thought she was tough. All of Orochimaru's girls had thought they were tough.

"Tayuya. Beautiful. You and I will become good friends, and you will train under me as a kunoichi of the Sound. Is that understood, darling?"

"Y..yes…" she responded, a weak tone in her voice as she pulled her hand out from underneath Orochimaru's shoe.

"Yes, what?"

"Y...yes, my lord."

"Good girl. I shall have Kabuto lead you to your room. Sakon and Ukon are already waiting patiently for you there, as well as two others who will become your best friends…" With that, Orochimaru walked out of the room, locking the door behind him to secure her until Kabuto would enter to do her physical.

"I won't become friends with anyone at this wretched asylum. No way," she mumbled to herself as she frustratedly picked at some hardened skin on her hand, trying to distract herself from the fact that her shirt had been ripped by Orochimaru's whiplike weapon and was practically falling off her body if it wasn't stuck to her blood-soaked skin. It was a good thing her chest hadn't developed yet, or she would have been even more embarrassed, especially when Kabuto had come in to do her physical exam.

After it had concluded, Tayuya's blood had been drawn and Kabuto had taken it to his laboratory along with the blood samples of the other three. Well, four if you count Sakon and Ukon as two separate entities. Tayuya had been given a new set of clothes, which she hated, but had no choice since her previous ones had been either tattered, soaked in blood, or some combination of the two, due to Orochimaru's torture. She hadn't even submitted to him, or so she told herself. She had only done the smart thing so as to not continue to be needlessly beaten. "I'm only submitting to him if he thinks I am…" she reminded herself as she was walked down the hall into the room where she'd meet her new 'friends.'

As she entered the room, she immediately noticed the disgusting stench of blood and body fluids, as well as the peculiar appearance of two of the other members. Sakon and Ukon were asleep, each of their heads perched on one half of the pillow they shared. Jirobo looked normal, but the one who looked absolutely strange was Kidomaru, who had not two, not four, but six arms. It creeped her out immensely, but she had to admit it did seem kinda cool.

'What do I do.. I can't just walk in and start talking to them like they're actually my friends. That's what.. he.. would want…" She pictured the snake sannin and shuddered to herself.. her thoughts were then interrupted by the spider child himself.

"Hey, you must be the new girl?" He half-asked and half-stated.

Tayuya forced herself to look him in the face. "Huh? Oh yeah, that's me. I see word of my arrival has preceded me then." She forced a smile.

"Yeah. That creep wouldn't shut up about you." He smirked a bit. Of course by "that creep," he'd meant Orochimaru. Tayuya could see the rebellious spirit in Kidomaru already, and she felt good knowing that they weren't just mindless puppets she'd be forced to work with.

She giggled a little in response. "Really? I'm flattered," she said sarcastically. "Always good to know some 50-something man is creepin' on ya."

"Oh dear, tell me about it," Kidomaru replied knowingly. He had an almost joking tone about him, but it was only to make light of the fact that he had indeed been assaulted by Orochimaru more than once in the few weeks he'd been there. "Watch out, don't get on his bad side, or he'll really creep on you.." he said while shuddering lightly.

"Oh believe me, I think I already have crossed that bridge," Tayuya replied, pointing to her back. "You can't see it through this potato sack he gave me, but he scratched me up pretty bad."

"Ah, right. I wish I'd been able to warn you not to backtalk him. Just pretend like you're a goody two shoes, you know, fake it a bit, and then melt in his hands, and he won't hurt you. Well, at least not as bad," Kidomaru advised her.

"Yeah, thanks for that. I kinda figured it out myself though, which is why I'm not dead," she replied.

Kidomaru giggled a little. "I like you already. You're just like me. And you'll like Sakon even more." He gestured to the sleeping mass of two heads in the corner bed. "He's got the worse temper out of all of us and the biggest hatred for Orochimaru. And over there is Jirobo," he said now, introducing the guy who looked like a literal sack of potatoes and was situated in the opposite corner to Sakon, sitting on a bed and eating a bowl of a muddy-looking soup with a side of short-grain rice. He gave an uncaring wave over to Tayuya upon hearing his name, not bothering to look up from his meal. For one who was not fed much, Jirobo sure took his meals seriously and often ate the food of the other Sound members.

Kidomaru turned back to Tayuya once he'd introduced the others. "You haven't met Kimimaro yet, and you probably wouldn't like him even if you did meet him. He's Orochimaru's lapdog, and well, that's pretty much it. Orochimaru said something about him having good bone mass, but we haven't been trained with him so don't know about him or his abilities very much. All we know is that we hear him making some… interesting sounds.. when he's with Orochimaru. We know he takes baths with him and such… but that's pretty much it. He's just… well, he's…"

"He's that creep's little bitch," Tayuya finished for him, understanding the situation.

"Yeah. That's right. You got it, heh." He was glad he didn't have to explain anymore about Kimimaro. Tayuya would understand it for herself after she met him, after all.

"Well, uh, thanks for giving me the grand tour I guess. Not looking forward to sharing a room with three guys but, with you around… I guess it won't be as bad as I was expecting. Thanks." She smiled a bit- yes, actually smiled- and sat beside Kidomaru, who made room for her on his rock-hard bed. "Once Sakon wakes up and eats, Kabuto said he'd let us out to train. I'll show you my ability then. I think you'll find it to be quite impressive. Won't you show me yours, then?" He asked, not even knowing that she could summon demons by the movements of her fingers and the frequency of sound waves she produced.

"Eh, we'll see," she responded, a little bit unsure. "I've got a long way to go with my ability. It isn't perfect yet. Plus, it's kinda creepy. It's not really a ninja ability. It's just… more like something I learned from my friends. We played with ouija boards and all that, and I kinda experimented with the other realm."

"Sounds pretty cool to me. I can't wait to see it," Kidomaru replied, giving her the most genuine smile he could. He knew he'd enjoy himself a little more, being able to now do things besides argue with Sakon and tell Jirobo not to eat all his food.

Tayuya began to warm up to this place just a little bit because of her interaction with Kidomaru. She had even began to forget the fact that he had six arms. She hated Orochimaru and Kabuto of course, for they were creepy and the ones that had captured her in the first place, but she did tell herself that her experience would be a bit less hellish than she thought it would have been, now that she knew actual humans with a heart and soul were stuck dwelling in the same place she was.


End file.
